


Not Broken, Just Bent

by SailorSol



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Time Force, Power Rangers Wild Force
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Crossover, Developing Friendships, Drama, Episode: Reinforcements from the Future Parts 1 and 2, F/M, Fluffy Ending, Happy Ending, M/M, Misunderstandings, Off-screen Comfort Sex, Off-screen Relationship(s), Romantic Angst, STH Continuity, Time Travel, pre-polyamory, suicidal ideations, suicide mission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-01
Updated: 2014-01-01
Packaged: 2018-01-06 09:13:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol/pseuds/SailorSol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jen has a mission to complete; just because it brings her to the 21st century doesn’t mean she’ll let it interfere in her duty. </p><p>Set during “Reinforcements from the Future”.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Broken, Just Bent

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Phantom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantom/gifts).



> Thanks, as always, to the usual suspects for beta and encouragement. I fiddled with canon just a bit, but hopefully not too much to upset anyone.
> 
> Title from the Pink song "Just Give Me a Reason".

"You know this is a bad idea."

Jen didn't turn around; she wasn't sure she could keep herself together if she did, which would only prove Alex's point. "I'm the best person for this mission."

"Lucas could do it," Alex said. That made Jen spin, glaring at him.

"Lucas is terrible for this assignment and we both know it. He doesn't have any of the necessary survival skills."

"And you do?" he challenged. "If I remember correctly, he spent just as much time in that century as you did."

She crossed her arms. "This isn't about how much training any of us has, is it."

Alex wouldn't meet her gaze. Wes would have, but...

But Wes was there and Alex was here, and Jen had broken both their hearts. She swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped forward, hugging Alex. "I'm coming back," she told him; she wasn't sure which one of them she was trying to convince. Either way, she probably failed.

* * *

Turtle Cove was the next town over from Silver Hills. Jen had looked at a map before she'd left the 31st century. To be sure to avoid anyone who might recognize her, she'd told herself, but there was only one person she was really trying to avoid.

It was almost a year since she'd left. Part of her hoped Wes had moved on by now. The rest of her wished he missed her as much as she missed him.

But her mission was in Turtle Cove, and the sooner she dealt with these latest mutants, the sooner she could go back to her own time.

She didn't want to think about when she'd started thinking of the clock tower in Silver Hills as home and stopped thinking of her apartment in Millennium City that way.

And then the Silver Guardians showed up to clean up after an org attack (she'd heard one of the current Rangers call the monsters that), and there Wes was, in a uniform he was oddly suited for, shoulder to shoulder with Eric. The urge to run across the street and throw herself into his arms was nearly overwhelming. But Jen had always prided herself on her dedication to the mission, and now was no different.

So she kept her distance, but once they were done working and headed for a local bar, she followed them. It was loud enough and busy enough that she couldn't hear them, but she could blend into the crowd and not be seen.

She shouldn’t have followed them. She knew that, but she had needed to watch him for just a few minutes longer, to make sure he really was doing okay like the history books claimed he was.

 _Be careful what you wish for_ , she reminded herself as she watched Eric pin Wes against the wall in a dark hallway outside the bathrooms, the two of them kissing each other in a way that Jen had only ever dreamed of kissing Wes.

Wes buried his face against Eric’s neck, the two of them fitting together like the not-quite-reflections they’d been when morphed. She returned to her campsite outside of town, vowing to finish her mission as quickly as possible.

* * *

She wasn’t surprised by Wes working with the Wild Force Rangers, but that Eric was also cooperating was a testament to Wes’ influence on him. They fought well together morphed. Jen had intended to keep her distance and not interfere, but when Wes went down and demorphed, she couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

She didn’t have a chance to actually sit down and talk to Wes until several hours later, after the rest of the team had come from the future with Ransik and Nadira in tow. Wes had come and sat next to Jen by the fire, pulling her close, and this time she couldn’t stop herself; she leaned against his chest, savoring the moment.

But it couldn’t last; Eric was sitting nearby, and Jen knew it wasn’t fair to him.

“We need to talk, Wes,” she said, sitting upright. She wouldn’t be able to have this conversation while still in his embrace.

“I’ve got so much to tell you,” Wes said, in the same overeager tone she’d once found annoying but now found endearing. “Eric and I--”

“I know,” she said, cutting him off before he could actually say the words. Maybe she could pretend for a little while longer that it wasn’t true, if she didn’t hear Wes say it out loud. She forced a smile onto her face. “I saw you two the other day.”

“It’s been really great,” Wes said. “We’re really starting to figure things out, you know?”

She wouldn’t cry; she hadn’t cried since she had left Wes on the beach over a year ago. “I’m happy for you both.” She stood. “We should get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

She didn’t wait to hear what Wes had to say, heading for the empty cot between Lucas and Katie.

* * *

“Master Org,” Alyssa said in a hushed, fearful tone. Jen didn’t need to know the particulars to know this guy was bad news. The three mut-orgs were following him, along with a slew of foot soldiers she’d heard the Wild Force Rangers call Putrids.

None of that mattered.

Letting herself go into the heat of battle was easy; it was how she had dealt with Alex’s (not) death. Familiar, if not comforting, and it wasn’t like there weren’t enough targets for her to vent her despair on.

One of the mut-orgs lined up to take a shot at Alyssa, who was busy with some Putrids. None of them had morphed yet; Jen’s blaster wasn’t having much effect on the monsters. If she didn’t act, the White Ranger wouldn’t even see the blast coming.

Years of training took over. Jen threw herself in front of the attack, using herself as a shield. She spent a few seconds on her back, staring up at the roof of the power plant, before the pain dropped from overwhelming to excruciating. Someone was calling her name, but it was a female face that appeared over her.

“Are you okay?” Alyssa asked, helping Jen to sit up.

 _No, I’m not. I’m still alive_. She nodded, letting Alyssa help her stand. “It’s time to end this. Let’s go find the others.”

* * *

The euphoria from winning and Ransik’s miraculous survival was enough, for a little while. Princess Shayla had food waiting for the two teams, and everyone was content to revel in the feeling of being alive.

“Alyssa said you took a pretty hard hit for her,” Wes said. She hadn’t even noticed him approaching her; he hadn’t been with the others, and she’d just assumed he’d gone off somewhere with Eric.

“All in the line of duty,” she replied. His white undershirt wasn’t even dirty, and his pants were still perfectly creased. She made herself look back to where Katie was arm wrestling with Danny.

“Duty,” Wes repeated, but he made it sound like a dirty word. “It’s always about duty with you, isn’t it?”

Jen looked back at him, glaring. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re going to leave again.”

He was frowning, arms crossed defensively. Jen swallowed hard and turned her back on him. “This isn’t where my life is.”

She couldn’t stop herself from tensing when his hand came to rest on her shoulder. “Then let me come with you. Please, Jen, I can’t lose you again.”

“And what about Eric?”

“What about Eric?”

“I saw you two in the bar the other day,” she said. Her voice barely wavered.

“Wha--oh.” He was silent for several seconds. “Look at me, Jen? Please?”

Reluctantly, she turned around to face him. “I’m happy for you two,” she repeated her words from the previous evening.

Wes kissed her. He didn’t try to hold her in place, but after a moment, she found herself clinging to his shirt. They pulled apart just far enough to breathe. “Eric and I are just friends. I love you, Jen. I want to be with you, no matter the century. Please believe me.”

She wanted to melt against him and agree to anything he said, but... “You were kissing like more than just friends.”

He winced, just a little. “It’s complicated. Eric was... distracting me. Reminding me that you wouldn’t have wanted me to waste my life wallowing.”

Her throat was tight and her eyes were stinging. They would have to talk about this more, but for right now, it was enough. She swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped forward, hugging Wes. “I won’t leave you.”

* * *

She didn’t want to spoil the mood of the picnic, so it wasn’t until the two teams were lined up on the beach next to the time ship, Wes’ hand tight in hers, that she said anything.

“I’m not going back,” she announced.

Katie, Lucas, and Trip exchanged a look. Trip broke into a grin first, but it was Katie who tackled Jen and Wes into a bone-crushing hug. “I’m so glad you said that!”

“Trip and I already programmed the auto pilot,” Lucas said, stepping sideways to slide an arm around Nadira’s waist. “We were taking bets on how long you would wait to say anything.”

“I don’t...”

“There’s no place for my father and I in the future,” Nadira pointed out. “And this is where we’ll all be happiest together, right?”

Jen had never expected to be taking advice from Ransik’s daughter, of all people, but Nadira was making sense. Wes was giving her an expectant and hopeful look.

She rolled her eyes and grinned. “I already said I was staying. But I’m glad my family is staying too.”

Katie let out another excited squeal, as everyone descended on her and Wes in a massive group hug. She leaned up and kissed Wes.

“I’m back.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> And then I went and wrote the companion piece to this, [Scars on Our Hearts](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1121474), with the understanding that the entire thing leads to Wes/Jen/Eric (well, really, it's Wes/Jen and Eric/Taylor, but Jen and Taylor have an understanding that they share their husbands and are totally okay with that because they are awesome women who are not worried about stuff like that.)


End file.
